BASEBALL; A 3-Decade Campaign Is Over: Baseball Is Back in Washington

By RICHARD SANDOMIR

Published: September 30, 2004

Back in the days when the Washington Senators were losers, which was often, there was a saying: ''First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League.''

Now, the city has a chance to change that karma.

It is getting a National League team, specifically the moribund Montreal Expos.

The Expos have been owned by Major League Baseball since early 2002, and they have fared about as well as some of those old Senators clubs, which won only one World Series from 1901 to 1971.

But at least there are some good historic vibes: word that baseball was dispatching the Expos to the nation's capital came on the 80th anniversary of the original Senators' clinching the American League pennant in the only season in which they went on to win the World Series.

There has been no formal approval of the Expos' move, but then, baseball has nowhere else to send the Expos. The move still needs the approval of three-quarters of the other 29 teams. Owners will assemble for their vote in November.

The relocation is also contingent upon the sale of the team and passage by the District of Columbia City Council of a $440 million financing package.

That package would renovate R.F.K. Stadium (designed for football as well as baseball), which is earmarked as the former Expos' home for the next three seasons, and would be used to build a new ballpark on the Anacostia River waterfront in an area scheduled for economic development.

''This was a team that had to be moved,'' Commissioner Bud Selig said in a teleconference in which he announced that he had authorized the Expos' move to Washington. ''We knew it had to relocate. Baseball didn't want to own it anymore. This was a team owned by baseball that we were anxious to get rid of.''

A name for the team has not yet been chosen.

''Happy days are here again!'' exulted Charlie Brotman, a former public-address announcer for the Senators, at a news conference at the City Museum, where fans wore Senators, and Expos regalia, and cheered public officials jammed onto a stage with the type of bunting seen at World Series games.

''Thanks for making us a major league city,'' shouted one fan.

None of the great Senators of the past -- to be honest, there were not that many -- were in the crowd. But Fred Valentine was there. So was Chuck Hinton.

Frank Howard, Harmon Killebrew and Camilo Pascual were elsewhere.

But Brotman seemed to be certain that he will be part of a tradition for the Senators dating to William Howard Taft in 1910: having the president of the United States throw out the first ball of the season.

So this is major news for Washington and for Major League Baseball.

''This is a great day for Washington,'' Mayor Anthony A. Williams said at the news conference. ''After 30 years of waiting and waiting, lots of hard work, and more than a few prayers, there will be baseball in Washington in 2005.''

This is the first relocation of a major league team since last time the Senators left, after the 1971 season. These were the expansion Senators, who were taken to Arlington, Tex., by their owner, Bob Short. Those Senators replaced the original Senators, whose owner, the penurious Calvin Griffith, moved them after the 1960 season to Minneapolis, where they survive quite nicely as the Minnesota Twins.

The Twins, those born-again Senators, were not long ago designated for elimination from the major leagues by Selig, as were the Expos, who would not have been available for Washington's warm embrace if not for baseball's scotching the plan.

Eventually, baseball purchased the Expos for $120 million from Jeffrey Loria, who then acquired the Florida Marlins. But the Expos kept losing key players because of baseball's budgetary limitations.

Now baseball will auction the new Washington team to the highest bidder. Among the prospective owners are the Washington Baseball Club, a group of investors that has been part of the lobbying to bring a team back to the city, and Mark Broxmeyer, a real estate developer based in Commack, N.Y.

The prospect of the Expos' arrival has displeased Peter Angelos, the owner of the Baltimore Orioles, who are only 35 miles away.

Angelos and Bob DuPuy, baseball's president and chief operating officer, have negotiated a compensation package over the past few weeks that would avert the prospect of the Orioles' owner suing baseball for letting another team encroach on what he believes is his territory.

A deal with Angelos has not been completed, but The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post have reported that it includes an equity stake in a new regional sports network that would exceed the Washington team's and an assurance from baseball that the value of the Orioles will not be reduced through competition with the new team. The newspapers also said that baseball will make up any shortfall in Orioles revenue if attendance falls below a certain figure.

''I believe Peter has been treated fairly,'' said Selig, who refused to disclose the status of the talks with Angelos. Selig has said he did not want to do anything in the process to anger Angelos, a longtime ally.

''We came to a conclusion that there has to be equity on all sides,'' Selig said. ''I'm confident with what has been done.''

Angelos said in a statement Wednesday night: ''Our negotiations with Major League Baseball are continuing. We have made substantial progress but have not yet reached an agreement. Our aim has been to protect and preserve the Orioles franchise and the economic benefits it has generated for Baltimore for the past 50 years. Equally important have been our efforts to protect Maryland's investment in Camden Yards.''

Washington's city government is making things very affordable for the future owner of the Expos, who have been playing in the ugly Olympic Stadium and in Puerto Rico.

The city plans to pay off the bonds on its large investment in baseball with rent from the team and a combination of taxes on tickets, concessions and souvenirs and taxes on businesses with annual revenue of more than $3 million.

Public officials on Wednesday were sensitive to criticism that tax money would be better spent on schools, hospitals and other social services.

''This is not financed with any citywide tax,'' said Linda Cropp, chairman of the District of Columbia City Council. ''The cost of the stadium will be financed with new money. If it wasn't for baseball, these tax dollars wouldn't be coming into the city.''

Marc Ganis, a leading sports business consultant, said in a telephone interview that Cropp is partly correct. But regarding the tax on businesses, he said: ''The same tax revenues could go to schools or hospitals. Who's to say it couldn't be? When governmental entities want to promote something like a stadium, they say the money they're using couldn't be used for general purposes.''

The council needed baseball's approval for the Expos to move by Friday to have time to submit and pass legislation required for financing.

Asked what will happen if the legislation does not pass, Selig said he is not expecting failure. ''The people in Washington are optimists, and so I'm very hopeful,'' he said.

Such high spirits might exorcise the sad-sack history of the Senators.